If you're delaying the purchase of a leccy car because of the cost of the juice, then electrical retailer Comet may have a solution: free power.
Comet_EV_01 Plug it in while you load it up
From today, Comet will offer customers free e-car power from "Plug & Go" points located in the car park of its Purley Way superstore in …

The State That We Are In

"It hasn’t been confirmed, yet, if you’ll have to buy something before Comet will grant you access to its charge points"

"Comet expects customers to use the store’s e-car points for no longer than two hours, but the firm hasn’t said what it’ll do if you plug in at 9am at return at 4pm."

Although your points are perfectly valid, it's sad that we immediately consider how schemes can be tainted by both provider and user. I've just moved away from the UK and, although I can't draw a direct comparison to this topic, schemes are generally well catered for here and people don't even think about abusing things that have been provided for their benefit.

It's a start

I know that the electric car thing is highly debated, but I see this as a positive step froward to bringing the idea of non IC vehicles into public acceptance and a small step towards some sort of infrastructure to make the change over from petrolium etc smoother.

Great idea NOT

It will take you at least 2 hours in that store for you to find anyone helpful, possibly longer in my experience. They won't be able to find the cables for your leccy motor - because they're not on display so the inevitable response will be 'Sorry mate, if it's not on display it ain't in stock innit'

Brilliant

Am I missing something, or is this a brilliant idea?

The country is awash with out of town shopping centres, the problem with electric cars is that they take a long time to charge, if they all had charging points no problem, and what will you do while you're charging your car? why pop into comet and probably buy something.

Seems like a good way to spend the few pence it is costing Comet in electricity to draw in more customers and enhances the company reputation for greenness too.